


Reservoir

by ZafiraMente



Series: Exposition [4]
Category: Newsflesh Series - Mira Grant
Genre: F/M, putting the fun in dysfunctional
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:13:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24609745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZafiraMente/pseuds/ZafiraMente
Summary: A look into when George started developing her reservoir condition.  Vignette from my own head canon.
Relationships: Georgia Mason/Shaun Mason
Series: Exposition [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1501508
Kudos: 2





	Reservoir

**Author's Note:**

> Oddly for me, I have a bunch of stuff written that I've just not posted and haven't even titled. So I am trying to post some of these. They are looks mostly into the upbringing of the Masons, important times in their relationship.

One of the biggest turning points in their lives, they have very little memory of – if they knew more about that time, maybe they would view their lives a little differently.

Georgia was about to turn five when the fevers started. The first time, she was so sick they took her to a hospital and they were afraid she had meningitis. When they had to do the spinal tap, Shaun had to be physically dragged away screaming. Georgia spent three weeks in the hospital being ill, and then another two months being tested after she got better. She would spike a fever every few weeks, which would delay her discharge. Prior to the Rising, intermittent fevers would have caused worry for leukemia. Post-Rising, they knew that they no longer had to fear cancer, but they had a lot of fear in KA.

Initially, they had quarantined her to protect Shaun, but even at five, he was fearless and wouldn’t be kept away from his sister. And Georgia seemed to feel better when he was nearby. The Michael Mason argued with the hospital administrator that it was far more harmful to separate them: if it was infectious, he was already exposed, and George’s vital signs were better when he was near. Less ethical doctors looked at Shaun as a control subject. By the time she was transferred to the CDC facility, it was just assumed Shaun would be part of the trip.

The Masons on the other hand, had fallen apart. Stacy was having flashbacks to when Philip had gotten sick. She wasn’t going to object to Shaun staying with Georgia because to her, they were really one child. They were collectively the patching material she had tried to fill her heart with, only now she was dismayed to find out it was sand, not concrete. It’s not like it would break her _more_ if they both died instead of just one.

Michael was trying to care for Stacy’s mental breakdown and it made it easier for him to deal with her when both of the kids were out of the way. Occasionally, he could feel judgment from the medical staff about their very sporadic visitation, but he was doing the best he could. Stacy attempted suicide three days into George’s hospitalization. He was thankfully able to handle it without any publicity, but she was tenuous. He would try and come by weekly to drop off clean clothing for the children, but if he couldn’t make it, he would send a student to do it for him. 

For Georgia and Shaun, life at the CDC wasn’t really that much different than their normal life, once George wasn’t critically ill. Strangers cared for them before, strangers were caring for them now; they had each other. For nearly three months, Shaun and Georgia lived a CDC facility, first treating her illness, then studying her recovery. The nurses had been initially against Shaun staying with Georgia, especially when she was at her worst, but were amazed at how well Shaun behaved when it came to her. He would keep her lips moist when the fever was burning her fluid away; stroke her face as she recovered from a seizure; he would hold her hand if she had to get her blood drawn; he would calm her down if she cried.

For the first week, it was touch and go – her breathing was labored and they feared she would need a breathing machine. Her electrolytes were completely out of whack, causing dangerous arrhythmias several times and entirely too many seizures. But then inexplicably, George slowly started improving over the next week and a half, and the staff were discussing whether she could be given home care. That’s when the neurologist noted Georgia’s eyes. Reservoir conditions were still in the early stages of discovery and they didn’t know what exactly they meant. It wasn’t until they biopsied her eye directly that they confirmed she had Retinal Kellis-Amberlee.

They stayed two months more, for testing and trying to treat George’s eyes, because Michael and Stacy were felt it was better that way. They said trying to get the kids back and forth to the hospital would be difficult and potentially delay her care. The CDC certainly wasn’t going to turn up their noses at a child with a reservoir condition that they had free rein to test and treat, even if her lighter-haired shadow could be obnoxious to doctors with painful tests.

Of course, all those tests and treatments returned the answer that she would live with until her death: her eyes were affected by the virus, and they would slowly degenerate until she was blind, and if she wasn’t careful, it wouldn’t be a slow degeneration. At first, they blocked her vision entirely during the daylight hours, until they determined how much light she could tolerate – of course Shaun was her seeing eye companion. Finally, they found a pair of adult cataract sunglasses that seemed to take up half her face, but definitely blocked out enough light that she could at least keep her eyes open most days, at least on the days they hadn’t sampled, injected or medicated her eyes otherwise. 

It was a lot for a young child to adjust to. The pain was different in the early days, more like sandpaper than the stabbing it would become as the nerves became more damaged. The lack of tears had scared George. She hated the drops they were constantly putting in her eyes to prevent damage. She hated when they would draw her blood. She hated everything in the facility, except Shaun. Whenever something would hurt her, her brother would make it better.

After the twins had been released from the CDC, their parents pretended like everything was fine, but of course it wasn’t. Stacy coped by going on assignment more. If she wasn’t at home, she didn’t have to deal with the unpleasant emotions that she felt were best compartmentalized.


End file.
